This invention relates to the field of cartography and, in particular, to providing a visual display of a selected map stored along with a plurality of differing maps on a visual display device.
Many cities are known to be good areas for walking, typically for several reasons. For example, many cities are rich in historic appeal. Many have a wealth of major attractions, including both venue and events, within walking distance of each other. As a result of attractions such as these, major pedestrian areas receive millions of visitors a year.
However, logistical difficulties can sometimes diminish the appeal of walking through cities. For example, the streets in Boston are laid out in an irregular often confusing manner, with many one way streets. There is a dearth of public parking spaces and parking garages are costly. The metropolitan Boston area also suffers from a lack of street signs. Travelers can often go for several blocks without seeing street signs, which creates considerable frustration.
Additionally, Boston is currently going through a major renovation. The Central Artery Project, also referred to as the xe2x80x9cBig Dig,xe2x80x9d is the largest roadway construction project in history. The xe2x80x9cBig Digxe2x80x9d causes traffic jams and even more confusion when traveling by vehicle. Thus, driving in the Boston area is a largely unappealing prospect. Coupled with the fact that the subway system has the lowest priced subway fares in the United States, this scenario further encourages travelers in the greater Boston area to walk and use the subway rather than to drive to their destinations. In addition to Boston, approximately one-hundred eighty cities worldwide have subway systems
Thus, good quality maps can be very useful when walking along city streets. Preferably, subway and pedestrian maps are substantially different from driver-oriented maps. Local businesses and attractions can assist pedestrian consumers in locating their venues and events, and encourage patronage of their establishments by pinpointing their locations on the maps.
One type of map that is therefore useful for helping travelers to get around in a city is a subway map showing one or more subway lines. In many cases finding a subway station in major cities can be difficult. Even if one sees a sign indicating a subway entrance from a distance, a closer investigation is usually required to determine which subway line the station services. Some major downtown stations are not marked at all on the street level. Furthermore, many stations have separate entrances for inbound and outbound service and separate stairways for entrances and exits. Some stations have separate entrances for each line, and the entrances can be scattered across a radius of up to two blocks. Thus, it is useful for subway riders who are not familiar with a particular line or station to have a reference tool to locate the most efficient subway line and passageway to the subway line including inbound and outbound entrances and exits of the subway line.
Many subway stations have more exits than entrances. One station may have a number of exit doorways in an area of one or more city blocks. This can be confusing even to a regular subway rider. Furthermore, when one is below the ground level it is often difficult to know the most convenient surface exit to use for a particular destination. Additionally, those who are unfamiliar with the subway system do not know how close another subway line may be. The result can be unnecessary subway travel time to make a direct transfer, when a much shorter travel time above ground would do as well. Subway riders are therefore in need of a reference guide which will depict the numerous station exits located at street level, as well as the proximity of stations on different lines.
Because of the haphazard street layout and logistical challenges of cities such as Boston, an address on an advertisement does not adequately convey the business or attraction location. Presently, advertisers must relate their business location to the nearest landmark or subway stop. There is a distinct need for businesses and attractions to have a clearer, map-based way in which to communicate their location to potential customers.
Geo-specific locators on the map are visual aids to depict locations of events, business locations, sites and attractions, to which travelers are likely to venture. For example, the Boston metropolitan area is home to nearly a quarter million college students and hosts over 11.5 million tourists each year. The education and tourist industries rank second and third, respectively, in terms of state revenue, leading to a significant amount of advertising and marketing geared toward students and tourists. While there are a number of college-oriented and tourist-oriented-advertising publications, there is still a need for a map-based manner in which these largely pedestrian-and subway-oriented demographics can be targeted by local businesses and attractions.
Downloadable walking instructions between user location in various cities are available from Vindigo, an internet-based company. Additionally, internet-based services for providing maps are known in the art. For example, Maptuit.com provides maps having symbols wherein a window corresponding to a symbol appears when a user rolls a mouse indicator over the symbols. The window can display, for example, a name of a business corresponding to the symbol. Additionally, if the user clicks the mouse, a small information page containing information about the corresponding business appears.
Mapblast.com is a Global Positioning System-(GPS) based mapping site that displays the trademarks of business on a map at a location corresponding to the geographic location of the business. It permits the user to select categories of business or attractions using a drop down menu, for example, hotels, restaurants, or ATMs. Selection of a category results in the display of the trademarks of all the establishments in the selected category. Other GPS-based systems include MapQuest.com, Delorme.com, and Maps.com. A prior art system, jungleport.com, provides downloadable maps and directions for users.
There are also search engines like Yahoo! that have a license to maps provided by MapQuest.com for permitting travelers to obtain maps of areas they intend to travel. Some of these sites allow users to zoom in to various levels of map detail, as well as to locate addresses on their maps. However, these sites are oriented towards drivers of motor vehicles. They do not provide subway or pedestrian-oriented information.
The video displays of maps obtained from internet-based map providers and search companies are downloadable, one video display at a time. Thus, a user can locate a desired map display and download it into a personal device for later use. For example, video displays of maps are downloaded one video display at a time into personal computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs). There are also some maps, like Jungleport for instance, that allow a download of the entire map and, hence, all video displays are downloaded for later access.
The system and method of the present invention provides a guide for assisting a user in traveling in a predetermined geographic area, for example, for use in a city to help locate venues and events while in that area. The present invention is particularly advantageous when applied to such a city area having a subway system therein. One feature of the guide is a high level view of such a subway system wherein symbols representative of the various features of the subway system such as entrances and exits are provided. The high level view includes a representation of the subway system overlaid onto a representation of the city to form a composite map. The representation of the city within the composite map can be a detailed street map or any other kind of map, and can include bus lines, walking paths, bicycle paths, or any type of information.
The composite map can be provided as a hard copy, but is preferably displayed on a video display device. The video display device can be, for example, the video monitor of a personal computer, the screen of a PDA, or the display of any other type of electronic device coupled to a web page server or other type of server of a provider of the system and method of the invention.
The user is provided with map screens showing a series of progressively more magnified and detailed levels, or zoom levels, of the composite map. One way for the user to navigate from one map screen to another is by using a star shaped compass having a plurality of compass points displayed beside the map. By clicking on a selected compass point the user is able to change a currently shown map screen to the next map screen, in the direction corresponding to the clicked compass point.
Enlarging and compressing of images of the map screens in order to perform the zoom in and zoom out functions without distortion of the dimensions of the images is made possible through the use of vector objects and vector methods. The video display technology used in the preferred embodiment permits the full range of system functions. Zooms and links between displays, will be available to users during offline operation on their own personal computers and PDAs, when the user downloads maps from the provider of the method of the invention. In order to permit offline operation in this manner, a substantial amount of display layering information and display overhead information is received by the user at the time of the download. In the preferred embodiment, for example, information representative of nineteen layers is received at the time of the map download.
In addition to the subway station entrances and exits being displayed on a composite map screen, they are individually identified as either an entrance or an exit. The entrances and exits with wheelchair access are also indicated on the map screen. Additionally, an index is provided along with the composite map to list the streets of the city along with the corresponding map screens and grid locations on which the streets are located, in order to assist the user in locating the streets shown in the guide.
The geographic locations of local businesses and attractions located within the geographic area represented by the map screen are indicated by icons on the map. Preferably, the icons are shown on the highest level of magnification of the map and on the next highest level of magnification. The icons are the trademarks of the businesses in the preferred embodiment, but can be any other type of indicator capable of representing the business or attraction.
By clicking on an icon of a business or attraction displayed in this manner, a user receives more detailed information about the corresponding business or attraction. The more detailed information is previously obtained from the business or attraction and stored as a customer profile. The customer can include in the profile, for example, such information as addresses, restaurant menus, hotel rates, business hours, show times, internet links, etc. When the user clicks on an icon, stored information in the form of flat text, video streaming, or in any other format, is provided to the user from a back-end server.
The businesses and attractions are also listed by industry categories that are selectable by buttons shown on the video display. For example, a user can request a display of the locations of all coffee shops, ATMs, hotels, or restaurants of a certain type in the area, represented on a displayed map screen. The businesses and attractions, along with their icons, can be listed on drop down menus. When a user clicks on a business or attraction presented on a drop down menu, a corresponding icon appears on a map screen at the corresponding location. If a business has more than one location, the closest location corresponding to the displayed map appears. Additionally, the user can request a display of the icons corresponding to all of the businesses and attractions available on the map screen using a single button which is also shown on the video display.
When a user determines a route to be traveled through a geographic region represented according to the invention, the user can obtain walking directions and travel time between the beginning and end points of the route. A travel itinerary setting forth the walking directions for the venues or events can be stored online by the user and protected using a password. The user can download map displays, the travel itinerary and other information provided in this manner to a personal computer, a PDA, or any other device.
Thus, a method is disclosed for providing a display of a cartographic map representative of a subway line within a geographic region in a system having a display device with an indicator device for indicating a display location on the display device corresponding to a geographic location within the geographic region. The method includes providing a plurality of map displays representative of at least a portion of the subway line for display on the display device and providing a plurality of display layers in accordance with the plurality of map displays for determining a map display of the plurality of map displays when a display layer of the plurality of display layers is applied to the display device. A plurality of view select zones corresponding to the plurality of display layers is displayed to permit a user to select a display layer in response to selecting a view select zone using the indicator device and the selected display layer is applied to the display device. A selected map display is provided on the display device corresponding to the applied display layer including at least a portion of the subway line.
A system is provided for displaying a cartographic map representative of a subway line within a geographic region upon a display device for providing a display having a plurality of display fields, the system having an indicator device for indicating a display location on the display device and information about an attraction located within the geographic region. A description information display field for receiving and displaying description information corresponding to the attraction and an icon information field for receiving and displaying icon information representative of an icon corresponding to the attraction are provided. A screen displayed upon the display device representative of the geographic region and icon information and a display of descriptive information is provided upon the display device in response to indicating the display representative of icon information using indicator device.